Category:Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is an alternate currency which like most modern money, has no actual value. It is not backed by gold or any other physical thing--instead, it is backed by the investment of others. Unbacked money is only worth the value people put into it, and cryptocurrency was designed with this in mind. Most of the kinds are based on the proof-of-work model, which means that the value of the currency is based on the work others put into it. This work is done in the form of mining, which is the act of generating new blocks of crypocurrency. Only a few are based on the proof-of-stake model, in which it is earned by investing the currency itself.

There are many different varieties of cryptocurrency. The most well known is Bitcoin, but a list of the many others is available on this page.